


Aphelion

by Poplitealqueen



Series: Frisson [1]
Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Darth Serenus, Frisson AU, M/M, Sith!Qui-Gon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2017-04-30
Packaged: 2018-10-25 17:17:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10768836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poplitealqueen/pseuds/Poplitealqueen
Summary: Qui-Gon Jinn returns, but he’s far from the same.





	Aphelion

**Author's Note:**

> Pulsion is halfway done, and that means that it's time to start explaining the whats, whys, and whens of this AU. This _*dramatic hand gesture* _is but a taste. Think of it as... an early gameplay trailer. Yeah. You don't have all the stuff yet, but there is definitely enough there to hold your interest until you do.__
> 
> __Seriously, like each little scene here corresponds to a fic I'll be posting later on. It's kinda awesome._ _

The first time Obi-Wan hears Qui-Gon again, it’s through a Clonetrooper’s crackling comm connection. There is chaos during their final campaign to win Charros IV.  Something or _someone is_  tearing through their southern flank like flimsiplast, and Obi-Wan can do little else but sit and listen to the death screams of his men, knowing he is too far away to _do anything._

But that feeling of utter helpless is nothing compared to the moment the Clonetrooper’s line he had managed to keep a link with throughout the entire affair goes silent, the final words Obi-Wan manages to catch being  _“He’s coming he’s coming he’s– argh!”_

Obi-Wan continues to shout into the comlink anyway. 

“This is General Kenobi. Respond. We are sending reinforcements to your coordinates, I repeat, we are sending reinforcements to your coordinates over.” he fights the urge to simply smash the small piece of equipment into the ground. They’d lost so many good men today, because of his blasted decision! He swallows the creeping feelings of guilt already sliding up his throat down. 

 “This is General Kenobi. We are sending reinforcements. Please respond, over…” he changes the frequency to all Republic channels, desperation outweighing the unnecessary need for covertness. “I repeat, this is General Kenobi. We are sending reinforcements. Someone, please respond. Over”

Nothing. Silence. Obi-Wan clenches his teeth as a detonation charge goes off nearby, blasting coal-black water from Charros IV’s many black lakes high into the air.

“Blast it all, someone answer me! This is General Kenobi, and I need to know there is at least one of you left alive! This is–”

A click and hope flares in him. He switches to the receiving line, but it’s not the recognizable treble of a Clone’s voice. It’s deeper, softer, and as familiar as his own bloody hands.

“I’m alive, Obi-Wan.”

The link clicks off before he can form an answer. For a moment, all he can do is blink. Then, a hard shake on his shoulder from Cody pulls him back, and the furious flurry of battle allows him to think of little else.

When they finally reach the southern flank, it’s a graveyard. Droids and clones alike littered so thickly that one can’t even see the arid ground beneath them. And all of them sport plasma slashes, the kind only a lightsaber can give.

They ultimately end up winning the day, with the Haor Chall Engineering Corps abandoning the planet. It’s a victory, despite their losses.

Obi-Wan doesn’t get a proper night’s rest for weeks afterward.

~~

The first time Obi-Wan feels Qui-Gon again is on the rocky planet of Aleen.

It’s an invisible brush across his cheek that jerks him awake, and the distinct feeling that he’s being watched. 

Wrapping himself up in his Jedi robe (they didn’t have blankets, and it makes a rather decent one) Obi-Wan exists his tent and stands at the edge of a bluff. Frigid wind whips around him as he stares into the dark distance. He expands his mind, searching. 

He senses out of the ordinary aside from a few indigenous species nearby. There doesn’t appear to be any hostile intent; perhaps he’s only tired. Obi-Wan is just about to head back to sleep when it happens again.

A gentle, _warm_ brush of the Force against his cheek, like a hand tracing it’s fingers along his face. It’s accompanied by a familiar presence in his mind, but although it’s seems nonthreatening, the wave of Dark energy that accompanies it has him shoring up his mental shields to their highest possible point.

He ignites his lightsaber and makes his own personal round through and about the camp, and questions the guards on rotation as well.

They saw nothing, and neither did he.

The presence doesn’t return again that night.

~~

The first time Obi-Wan sees Qui-Gon again, it’s through the rear viewport of the _Twilight_ as he, Anakin, and Ahsoka  make their frantic way off of the Jedi Cruiser _Daring,_ as it’s blasted apart by wave after wave of infiltrating droids.

They’d all been caught of guard. There was no way they could take back the cruiser now.

As Anakin inputs commands for emergency take-off at a speed that seems preternatural even for a Jedi and Ahsoka straps in the meager handful of officers they’d managed to rescue, Obi-Wan keeps a lookout.

That’s when he sees him. Standing there as the airlock slowly seals and the the landing clamps depressurize from the hull.

It can only be Qui-Gon, but…

But Obi-Wan can’t sense him, and there is something about him that’s horribly, obscenely wrong.

If he’d focused on his lightsaber, that would have told him straight away. The blade is a bloody crimson, and the hand holding it is decorated with Sith tattoos. But he hadn’t focused on that. 

He focused on Qui-Gon’s face. On his _eyes._

The wise, peaceful blue that had reminded him of home, _love_ , was gone, replaced by corrupted Sith gold.

No. It couldn’t be kriffing possible. It shouldn’t. It _can’t._

_But it is._ Qui-Gon’s voice whispers in is mind, and then the Twilight is launching, sending them careening into space.

Obi-Wan alerts the Council shortly after, and they come to a consensus after pooling all the evidence together: Qui-Gon Jinn has returned, and he has Turned.

~~

The first time Obi-Wan smells Qui-Gon again, it’s the haunting aroma of flesh and sweat and breath as their bodies meet.

It’s that familiar scent that belongs to only Qui-Gon as Serenus enters him, fills him, _completes him._

Obi-Wan doesn’t question the right or the wrong of it in that moment, the utter foolishness of having sex with the enemy. He focuses on the now, on the rolling muscles beneath his hands and the comforting weight above him.

On Serenus’ rumbling purr of a laugh that vibrates through them both.

“I’m glad you remembered my teachings, Obi-Wan.”

~~

The first time Obi-Wan tastes Qui-Gon again, it ends with Obi-Wan’s hand on Serenus’ chest to push the taller man back, breaking the contact between their lips.

Their lightsabers meet with a screech, and it takes all of Obi-Wan’s skill to block Serenus’s quick riposte.

His old Master is as strong as he ever was, _stronger_ even.

Obi-Wan knows he can’t last, but he pushes the thought aside. He can’t think about Qui-Gon has become, what Serenus wants ** _him_** to become. Obi-Wan can’t think about what will happen if he loses, what this shadow of Qui-Gon will do.

He will not Fall. He _can’t. Not even when Serenus’ soft words and gentle assurances spoken in Qui-Gon’s voice make it seem so easy, so right. He **can’t.**_

Their fight continues.

Obi-Wan loses.


End file.
